Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Humble Bread Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Lumber Room and The Vagabond so, you can check these posts as well.
The Humble Bread Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Gluten – a sticky substance that is a mixture of two proteins present in cereal grains, especially wheat.
- Yeast – a fungus used to make bread rise
- Consistently – always the same
- Degas – make something free of unwanted or excess gas
- Leavened – caused dough to rise by adding a substance
Question 1: Answer the following questions after reading the extract.
“The aroma of freshly baked bread can make one feel hungry as well as happy. Bread has often been called the staff of life because just as a staff supports a person to walk, bread gives us energy.”
(a) Why has been bread called the staff of life?
Answer: Bread has often been called the staff of life because just as a staff supports a person to walk, bread gives us energy.
(b) Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘a pleasant, noticeable smell’.
Answer: aroma
(c) How were the earliest breads?
Answer: The earliest breads were hard and flat.
(d) How were the earliest breads made?
Answer: The earliest breads were made from a mixture of ground grain and water and baked in the sun or on hot rocks.
Question 2: What gives bread its elasticity?
Answer: The sifted flour is poured into an industrial mixer. Temperature-controlled water is piped into the mixer. This mixture develops gluten and gives bread its elasticity.
Question 3: What is pre-shaping?
Answer: Pre-shaping is when the portioned dough is loosely shaped into smooth, round balls, making the final shaping easier and more efficient. Pre-shaping stretches the gluten on the outside of the dough and forms a skin that helps the dough to retain the gases produced by the yeast.
The Humble Bread Questions & Answers
Question 4: Why is the dough degased?
Answer: The dough is degased to expel some of the carbon dioxide and avoid choking the yeast. It allows the gluten to relax a bit, equalize the temperature of the dough and redistribute the nutrients necessary for the yeast’s continued growth.
Question 5: How are bread crumb formed?
Answer: When the bread is being baked, the sugars in the dough caramelise, giving the bread a beautiful brown crust. When the temperature reaches about 71°C the gluten coagulates. This leads to the formation of crumbs and sets the structure of the bread.
Question 6: Why are loaves cooled before slicing?
Answer: Loaves are cooled on racks that allow the air to circulate around them and prevent the crusts from becoming soggy and to allow the crumb structure to stabilize and develop its full flavour.
Question 7: ‘One baker can feed a thousand people.’ Justify.
Answer: In the lesson ‘The Humble Bread’, we understand the tedious process of baking bread. While it focuses on the use of modern machinery to bake bread on a large scale, traditionally bread has been made with the baker’s hands. The baker requires a lot of strength to work with the dough, the precision to measure and add all the ingredients in the right proportion and a lot of patience to ensure that the bread rises perfectly. Since earlier times, the baker has been given a lot of importance because he satisfies one of the three basic needs i.e. food. Even in times of distress, like wars or natural calamities, it is the bakers who are always working in order to feed thousands of people who have no access to food.
Question 8: How is the quality of the bread checked in a factory?
Answer: Quality checks are performed at each step of the production process. The bread is checked for its shape, colour, crust, crumb, slice, aroma, taste and impression. Producers employ a variety of taste tests, chemical analyses, and visual observation to ensure quality.
The Humble Bread Questions & Answers
Question 9: Answer the following questions after reading the extract.
“Most bread today is leavened with yeast, baking powder or baking soda. The credit for making the first leavened bread as well as building the first oven is given to the Egyptians.”
(a) What is the contribution of the Egyptians to the baking industry?
Answer: The Egyptians were the first to make the leavened bread as well as to build the first oven.
(b) How is most bread leavened today?
Answer: Most bread today is leavened with yeast, baking powder or baking soda.
(c) Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘recognition’.
Answer: credit
(d) What does leavening do to the loaf?
Answer: Leavening makes a hard, flat loaf soft, light, and filled with air.
Question 10: Explain the process of baking bread in a factory in brief.
Answer:
i. Scaling: All the ingredients are measured and lined up to be used.
ii. Mixing and kneading the dough: Combining flour, yeast and water to make smooth dough in the industrial mixer.
iii. Bulk Fermentation: High-speed machinery induces yeast cells to multiply or chemical additives are used.
iv. Folding: The dough is degased to expel some of the carbon dioxide and avoid choking the yeast.
v. Dividing: The dough is divided into the desired individual portions.
vi. Pre-shaping: The portioned dough is loosely shaped into smooth, round balls.
vii. Resting: The dough is rested for twenty to thirty minutes.
viii. Shaping and Panning: The dough is formed into its final shape and placed in the pan.
ix. Final Fermentation: The dough is placed in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.
x. Baking: The dough is scored with a sharp knife and then baked.
xi. Cooling: The loaves are cooled on racks for at least two hours.
xii. Slicing and Packaging: The bread is sliced on the slicing machine. Then pre-printed bags are mechanically slipped over each loaf in the packing machine. Then the workers either close the bags with wire twists or heat.
Question 11: How did the earliest bread become porous? How is bread fermented in factories?
Answer: The earliest breads were hard and flat. They were made from a mixture of ground grain and water and baked in the sun or on hot rocks. It is believed that pores from the yeast plants floating in the air may have settled on some of the baker’s dough. The yeast fed on the sugars in the mixture and grew. They could not escape from the thick dough, so the multiplying cells expanded the mass into a larger, lighter, more porous substance.
In some plants, high-speed machinery works with the dough at extreme speeds and with great force, inducing the yeast cells to rapidly multiply. Fermentation is also done naturally or by using chemical additives.
So, these were The Humble Bread Questions & Answers.